I am a yeller. I get after kids daily. I tell them, "I treat each and every one of you like you are my own kids. It's when I stop yelling you have to worry."
What do I "yell" about? Homework. Being mean to classmates. Not caring. Homework. Watching movies in class. Texting. No effort. Homework.
And I yell at kids I really like. Like they were my own kids.
Because they are. My. Kids.
And they know it. Because I also tell them that. "You. Are. My. Kid.
They call me mom. They tell me they are sorry when they screw up. They don't like it when I'm mad at them.
What they don't know is the nights I go home and cry because I think I've failed them. Or the days I say to my principal, "I've never had a kid I couldn't reach. I don't know what to do with this one." They don't know how I worry on Prom Night. They don't know that even after they leave me and go to college or go to work, they are still MY KID.
They don't think I mean You. Are. MY. KID.
They don't know that I never give up. I will always try to find a way to connect, to help, to love.
My strength? MY KIDS.
“When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.”
― Randy Pausch
Wonderful. Wonderful. So well said!
ReplyDeleteI am so behind in blog reading. What a delight to come across this tonight. I love your words. I love what you are about. Though your kids might not think you mean it; they feel it--the sense that these are YOUR kids is palpable in your classroom.
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